Creating a Pipeline to True Workplace Diversity
Providing resources, offering acceptance, and involving people of color are keys to making your company more diverse
Here’s a common scenario: I attend a panel about the future of design and tech. During the talk, the panelists give many insightful, provocative answers to the various topics up for discussion. However, whenever they are asked about diversity and its impact on the future of the industry, the panel goes silent. Finally, one panelist changes the topic to “diversity in thought” in the workplace, and the conversation continues.
The phrase “diversity in thought” is a relatively new invention that perplexes me. Diversity in thought is the idea that our strategic thinking and perspectives are formulated by our culture, experience, and background. So to avoid homogeneous thinking and ideas and craft better solutions, an organization must recruit and hire people with multiple perspectives. Sounds like straight-up diversity, creating a workplace where people of different ethnicities, genders, abilities, etc., are represented, right? But in my experience, “diversity in thought” is used as a cop-out, a way to hire, for instance, two white guys who come from different hometowns and have different hobbies and thus are “diverse.” It should be obvious that this…
